Hey Everyone,

My buddy has a 3.4 block sitting in his garage and when I say block I mean just the block. No pistons, crank, rods, nothing. He says he'll trade me for the blown 350 i have sitting in my garage.
Is it worth it? Also since it is just the block and i have a 3.1, can i dump all of my parts into it or will i have to go to the local scrap yard and get some 3.4 stuff? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

You still need the 3.4 pistons.

Your crank, connecting rods, heads, intake, flywheel, tc cover, drive accessorys will swap.

Then suggest a different cam and new timing chain.

 

Dale What Cam and Drive Chain do you reccomend, I have the Crane 2030 Cam. The one that has 204/214. Either way what do you reccomend?

 

Your current cam is the same as the stock 3.4 crate cam, I believe. I'd move up to a 208/218, or even a 210/220 cam, myself. If you do decide to keep your current cam, keep the lifters/pushrods in the SAME ORDER AS THEY CAME OUT. THEY MUST BE INSTALLED IN THE SAME LOCATION IN THE NEW BLOCK!

Of course, a new cam, will give you a bit more power, as well as not have to worry about that little bit - will just need to perform a cam break-in.

You will need 3.4 pistons, as stated above. I'd suggest some new rings, as well. Now would also be a good time to install you some Pacesetter headers, and port the heads/intake! You'll be flying high then!

As for a timing set, if you can splurge, get the Cloyes Double Roller... it's $92 tho, from Summit. Might I also suggest some new springs, and roller rockers, if you choose to really build this 3.4 well.

 

cam will depend on your use of the car. What I want may not be what you want.

Cloyes chain is nice, and can pre-set it to 2deg advance to hide it from the smog boys. Or just a reg set for 20-30 bux from local parts store will always be fine too.

If you have the time and green, do as doward said and port the heads with some new springs. If you must have your car or dont have cash flow, leave as is, they will be just fine.

I'm finding roller rockers to be way overpriced for the gains, but if you are building a top-notch motor, they are advised.

 

Hm. Well, as far as the trade goes... say you got a complete running 3.4 from a junkyard- what would you do with it? Would you just drop it in, or would you rebuild it completely?

If you'd just drop it in, I'd avoid the trade for the bare block. Why? Putting a motor together from a bare block is much more money. First, you have to get the block hot-tanked (remove all rust and caked-in oil) and magnafluxed (checks for cracks). The deck should also be checked for straightness, and if it's not straight, it has to be milled down. Then you've got to find a set of heads, and do the same thing (hot tank & magnaflux & check for warpage). If all those things passed okay, now you need to prep it for pistons by checking the holes with a telescoping gauge to check the bore. You might be able to get away with honing the block, but if anything's funny in those bores, you'll have to have them bore it oversize. Don't think of a bore job as "horsepower", it's really just to clean up the cylinder walls. Then you've gotta get pistons and rings and file the rings so they fit the pistons with the proper ring gap. What kind of crank will you get? New (expensive) or rebuilt (hot tanked/magnafluxed/ground bearing surfaces). If you buy a crank kit, it will come with matched bearings to the crank. If not, you need to use a micrometer to find out what size main bearings you need. A rebuilt crank might be severely underground on one of the mains; it's a risk you're taking, because the more underground the main is, the weaker the crank gets. And heck while you're that much into it, would you also want to grind the valves and check the valve guides?

All that's more expensive then dropping a junkyard 3.4 in.

Now if you're not doing anything with the blown V8 (which will require the same amount of work as I just wrote), I guess it'd be a good trade. But to get a decent motor out of the bare block, you'll be in for a lot of coin.

 

I have roller rockers, I have heads with springs but they are not ported/polished, My intake manifold is, And i already ordered the headers last week, which means i will have full exhaust. Will I be able to go eat some mustang? i also am looking forward to my NX 100 shot. I have a regular timing chain that was about $30 at advanced auto parts. What times can i expect in the 1/4 with the cam I have now? Can I hit high 13's with the juice?

 

Dale mentioned that you can put the Cloyes chain at 2 deg advance to hide it from the smog police. Does that mean it would cause a person to fail if it is at neutral (0*)? If thats true, I wish I would have known that a few months ago....

 

In cali, they check your timing when they smog test. I assume they give you a few deg +\-, but you can put the chain on at 2deg, so then you would be running 12, but only show 10 at the timing mark

 

hah gotta love screwing the smog police

 

that also changes the relationship between the cam and crank doesn't it? I can see how it would appear that the timing is different, but that would also change they way the engine runs wouldn't it?

 

If you already have all that done to your 3.1 (cam, going on hedders and nitrous) I'd keep things as is and see how you like that combo, Iwould imagine you'll hit LOW 14's with it, maybe lower.... If you end up wanting a 3.4 later on, Buy a complete low mileage motor, and rebuild it (bearings, gaskets, seals etc.), cam it and port the heads, rebuild the valvetrain. Blow up this one first...IF YOU DARE, muhahahaha